WOYWW - art at last

Oh dear back again!! Sooo, what's on my desk this week? Well, thought I would do a side shot this time and it is actually a bit tidier than the last time people came to visit!
I have been busy prepping a piece of altered art for my one world one heart door prize - it's nearly finished so we know there will be at least one (heaves sigh of relief). There has been a lot of red and black paint, glimmer sprays and metallic rub ons used over the last couple of days and my nails look disgusting lol. Aah, just noticed the packet of biccies - diet didn't do very well last night, had a severe attack of the munchies. You can also see my new Ottlite which hubby bought me for Christmas after my constant moaning about grabbing the wrong colour paint - no more excuses!!

Guess what was waiting for me when I came home last night? A lovely packet from Zuzu on Alter It Monthly. My altered slide mailer for December was chosen to win a great prize from Crafty Individuals. There is a lovely book of seaside themed papers, two seaside themed stamp plate set(just love those little girl images) and a further set of Christmas stamps. Really really chuffed with this ('cos you know how much I lurve stamps lol). Will have to write some proper thanks tonight as am dashing off to work now but itching to have a go with these. You never know, there might be a project using them on my desk next week! Thanks for dropping by and if you want to see more wonderful work desks then pop over to Julia's to join in.

GIVEAWAY, GIVEAWAY, GIVEAWAY........

Well thought I'd try and get your attention after yet another long absence. Work, work, work and no art makes Cindy a very bad blogger!! Well here it is at last, the January giveaway.

A few months ago my boss asked me to make her a book to have all the staff birthdays in (actually there are SO FEW staff now it wouldn't take a mensa like mind just to memorise the list) but she does like to give me little projects. It was about the time I had just been to Ally Pally where I saw a really nice birthday calendar made using the clip from the inside of an A4 folder (got plenty of those!). But then I remembered this, which was originally a photo holder which I bought from a 'reject' sale for 50p. It has been languishing in my box of 'things I'll do something with one day' for a couple of years. Anyhow I played around with various ideas and this was what I finally decided to do. But I then realised it was going to be far too elaborate for the office (five names) so it has become my giveaway for January. So in case that long winded explanation hasn't thrown any light on it, it is a sort of birthday book, but on a stand. The base was going to be even fancier but then I realised it would be hard to turn the pages. But don't you just love that fancy leafy swirl? It is my new Marianne die and I think it is just scrumptious!!


Anyhow, let's get to the point. If you have space on your desk for this (slightly) useful piece of altered art then leave a comment on this post before 10.00pm on Wednesday 26th January. Overseas players welcome, please feel free to link from your own blogs. I will have a very short window to post this to you after the closing date as I will not be at home for a few days so it may be delayed if I don't know the winner's address already. Just to say also that the February giveaway will in fact be taken over by ONE WORLD ONE HEART and I hope to have something (or even somethings) nice ready in time for that. Thanks for playing!!!!

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday....

Well, got half an hour to kill while I'm waiting for the dreaded hair dye to take, so I thought I would join in with this just for fun weekly bloghop. Errr...... the desks don't have to be tidy do they?



Blimey, what's all that shiny stuff.... could it be the sun streaming in? Haven't seen that in a while. Sorry about the state of it, and yes this is how I usually work. My current WIP is the January giveaway and yes, once again I am behind schedule but it should be ready for the weekend. This month is an altered item that will be functional . Makes a change eh? I'm not quite sure what the finished thing will look like yet but it is definitely going to be brown and will need a space to stand on!! I have also been playing with my various metallic rub on type stuff - had a big disappointment because some of my rub n buff has dried up in the tube. No new toys on my desk this week although there are a few things waiting to be christened around my craft room (and more to come - sometimes I think internet shopping shouldn't be so easy!)

Anyhow, if you want to join in with WOYWW go to Julia's blog. Off for a wander myself now. Aah, while I've written this post the sun has gone. Nice while it lasted though.

STAMP MAN CHALLENGE - My Favourite Project.......

As part of the current Stamp Man Challenge, I have to select my favourite project of 2010 ..... not as easy as it might sound!!

Would it be a little book?




Or perhaps an art doll?


Possibly an ATC.....


Or some kind of construction...


A card even...,


So so hard to choose,.......... but I have finally decided to go with this stampboard frame.

Right so off to do some bloghopping which is the second part of the challenge. There are PRIZES to be won so get on over to the Stamp man and join in!! And if you like bloghopping and prizes, then this can be just a little training exercise for the biggest organised crafty blog hop you can imagine - yep, I am talking about One World One Heart, which starts on Jan 30th and ends on Feb 17th. This will be the fifth and final year and I think it's going to be a big one!!

Don't forget though that the first of my monthly giveaways on this blog will be along shortly so I expect to see you back here to join in. Bye for now!!

Last post of 2011..... oops that should read 2010...

well, think I peaked a bit early with all those Tim Holtz tags, haven't been on here in over a fortnight!! Seriously, after being very organised initially with loads of cards ready for Christmas, at the end of November I was asked to take my Christmas cards to a lunch meeting - they nearly cleared me out which left me with a huge panic to get everything done...... and then snow came and half of it either didn't get posted or probably didn't arrive in time.


A bit of a production line had to be in initiated. Here are some of the designs I did. The 'angel' stamp is a Sugar Nellie stamp designed by Diane Duda. It is also a fundraiser stamp with all proceeds going to support UK breast cancer charity so if you like it they are still available to purchase. The girly 'Santa' is from an Urban belle collection.


But my favourite card for this Christmas was this trifold/swing card(???If anyone knows the correct name please put me out of my misery!! I can't find the magazine) inspired by a project in craft stamper magazing (Dec 2010). I haven't made one of these before but was surpised at how easy they were to do and they are wonderfully dimensional when opened out. My second attempt was for my mum and came out even better (what a big head I am) but I forget to photograph it - doh!




Well that's about it for this year, but I am just about to go and join in with the Stamp Man's Blog hop and Challenge (There are PRIZES so go join in). Part of the Challenge is to showcase the piece of work you are most please with in 2010. So I have had a look through and chosen my favourite. If you would like to join in for my personal little challenge, have a look back through my posts and let me know your choice for 2010.... I'll be uploading mine on Monday, and there'll be a little prize for anyone agrees with mine.

It only remains for me to thank my blog readers for your support this past year, I enjoy reading every single comment and it really means a lot to me that people take the time to return on a regular basis. So, here's wishing you a very Happy New Year, and a healthy, happy and prosperous 2011.

Hugs, Cindy xxx

Tagtastic, 12 tags done and dusted...

Here are the last four tags, and finally a challenge I have managed to complete pretty much on time (some of us do have to work you know!!)

Tag 9 - Paper Rosette


Who knew that this would be so easy to do? I don't have the die, but I took a piece of 12 x 12 paper and ran it through a punch to give a scalloped edge and then used the scallops as a guide to fold it. The tinsel not so easy to stick on - BIG mistake not getting out the glue gun!! And as for the brads - I don't have a texture hammer but a big bang with my ordinary one seemed to do the trick!!


Tag 10 - Packaging


I had to go off at a slightly different tangent as I didn't have any snow men shapes but the basic principle of embossing acetate packaging worked really well. The 'bauble' is a chipboard shape and I stamped flourishes on it in gold but they didn't come out that well - however, I think it made it look suitable 'old'.




Tag 11 - Foam stamps


Well I groaned again. Don't have these dies, I have mainly nesties... but hey, what about the poinsetta die again? So out it came again and I made a foam stamp with it. Worked really well I thought and really easy to do (of course I just improvised with pritt stick to attach it to an acrylic block but it still worked. I guess it is better to do it properly if you think you will use it a lot.) For the rest I just used a few embellies I had laying around and put bells on because the text is about Christmas bells.


Tag 12 - Movers and Shapers........ Say again??


Had never come across these before, I can kind of see the appeal but don't think they are anything I would ever buy. I did try to make a bauble using nesties and that die again to cut a hole in the centre (it was that or a bird) as I thought that was kind of what the technique was about but my bauble went all curly when I added the crackle paint - don't really like this one that much which is a shame as it is the final tag. I did however find the mica that I couldn't find for an earlier technique (it was somewhere safe) but can anyone tell me how the h*** do you split that stuff up? I just end up with flakes.


Well that was great fun but phew, all that improvisation has done my head in and I've still got more cards to make..... now, where did I put those peel offs?

More tags - but not finished yet!!!

A few more tags......

Tag 5 - enamelled metals

First of all, I really didn't get the brushing the sides of the tag, didn't seem to work for me at all!! I had no metal numbers so just triple embossed some chipoard ones which gives a similar effect. What I really liked about this tag was the idea of using distress embossing powder on metal to make the flowers. I only have one colour of dep - Tea dye - not very flowery!!So I decided to use alcohol inks - worked really well and I now know what to do with the rest of the packet of metal shapes!! I decided not to put white bits over my Santa but did highlight him with a gel pen - he looks much better!!




Tag 6 - Texture Fades


Improvisation time again - no suitable embossing folders!! I had read however that you can emboss with almost anything if you have a tan embossing mat so I cut out my own tree design and tried running it through the cuttlebug with my tag. Have to say it could have done with a bit of fine tuning but it does work and is something to remember if you want to create some custom embossing. Not entirely happy with the colouring on this one (couldn't get the colours right) but another technique experimented with.




Tag 7 - Poinsetta


Wow, wow, wow .... sorry, shouldn't say it I know but I really love my take on Tim's tag. I don't have the canvas he uses but I do have a brand new 'Marianne' poinsetta die (I'm getting a bit hooked on these actually) which I think makes a lovely flower. It has a subtle vein emboss through it as well. I dutifully distressed, glimmered, inked and rock candied and I'm really happy with the result. Oh and the background - again, no appropriate folder but I used the glue and acrylic technique with some new 'green' paints I have to give me a wood effect background. Definitely my favourite so far.

Tag 8 - Extreme Masking
lol you are not kidding!! I found an old stencil of two candles but it was very thick plastic so I made my own mask and stencil so that I could do the technique. Looks quite cool but the two inks I used were fairly similar so I used my white gel pen again just to highlight the slight 'frame' that was between the wo pieces of inking. I have to say this tag looked much better when I glittered the snowflakes - it really brought it to life, and what's Christmas without a little bling?

Off to Mr H's blog to check out the final tag and make a start on the last 4. Hope you have enjoyed taking a peek at what I've done so far!!